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^ That’s what Gareth said in farewell to Neighbour Cat as he left for work on Friday morning.

The black & white assassin is finally away to her new house, fifteen months since she first sauntered into our living room uninvited.

We were so lucky to get seven bonus weeks of cat sitting. Her owner was full of thank you’s for helping her out of a tight spot, but the pleasure was all ours. We loved her already but full time residency let us get to know her lunatic ways on a whole new level.

Since she didn’t have her real family to hang out with, we made an effort to keep her entertained. She really dug our high tech yarn toy. Please excuse the hairy carpet in this video and focus on the cute…

When she wasn’t snoozing on that old duvet she would take up residence atop Gareth’s motorbike leathers.

She continued to eat like gannet, and on this occasion decided to open the Whiskas herself when Gareth dared to arrive home ten minutes late. Looks like she may have been about to make a sandwich…

She’d frequently tap at this particular window to be let in. She’d never realise it was already open, despite it being the same kind of window as the others she entered through. Please excuse her grubby pawprints and the washing machine on spin cycle and focus on the cute…

“What the hell are we going to do now?” I asked Gareth on Friday night as we stared at an abandoned Dreamie on the kitchen floor.

“We’re going to have Empty Nest Syndrome then get divorced,” he said. “I read about it in The Guardian!”.

There’s a real space left behind by the feline formerly known as Marcel Kitten (’til we found out her real name was Alfie, then subsequently known as Alfie Pops, Alfinator, Alfredo, Alfonso, Alf Stewart, Alfie Pudding, Sprocket, Pantaloons or Lady Poostinks).

But as I said to her owner, it was an honor to know her. If you’d told us two years ago that the highlight of our Highland Experiment would be frequent visits from a sweet, grumpy, hilarious, spider-chasing four-legged stranger, we’d not have believed it. I treasure every swipe, every snore, every snooze on my lap; every furry blurry leap through the window.

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If you enjoyed having a cat so much why not get one of your own from Cat Protection or similar. Get a rescue cat and give it lots of TLC, we did and have never regretted it one little bit.Our cat Samantha is 13 and a half now.

You could see if you are really into the cat thing by offering to foster cats for a local shelter? That way you only have them for a specific amount of time, can see if there are any cats you CANNOT HANDLE (my pal loves cats, but fostered one whose real name she cannot remember. We called it Satan.) Could offer to just do seniors to begin with (no training required, less wanted than kittens, so more of them. Mellow.) and see if it could be your thang. I mean, you could foster cats FOREVER. Or just realise it is not for you. Or realise it is for you and you want a cat. It helps a shelter out, at any rate.If you phone a shelter to ask about fostering they will happily chat to you. They don’t want you or the cat to be unhappy, so if you say ‘We do NOT want to foster Satan in feline form’ they tend to agree with you? Easier than going straight into a rebound cat?

So cute and it’s nice that you’ll miss her. What a lovely way of helping a friend and having a furball around for company 🙂
I couldn’t be without my two now, but they are a handful and currently in the teenager stage. I’m torn between wanting them to be older to be calmer and loving their playfulness. Rescue is definitely the way to go 🙂

Oh my goodness, I knew it was coming but it’s still sad! Cats are awesome, but they’re all so different. So waiting is probably smart, so you will have time to realize the new kitty will have his/her own zany personality!

I join L ori with tears in my eyes… I’ve loved your updates with the neighbor cat and was secretly hoping that they’d leave her with you, with a stiped of course. I cannot now imagine my life without cats/pets, and never really realized how less “alive” my home seemed before. Many pats on the back to you for considering fostering as well as senior cats. I wish I were stronger and could face the sooner losses with less emotion. Best of luck in however you proceed with what’s right for you both!

Like me, you accidentally found the perfect cat, or more accurately, He found You! So very sad he is leaving your comfy abode. I was holding out hope his owners might forget about little Alfie and he could stay with you. He is a gorgeous cat, love his little black beard. My little cat wandered onto our acreage two years ago, and wormed her way into our house and our hearts. The other night she was outside, hunting, as she often does, and I woke up about 2 a.m., to the cacophony of coyotes howling. We have lost several pets to the coyotes out here, and I realized our little Neymar (as in “we should ‘Neymar’ our cat.”) had insisted on going out as I was heading to bed. My worrying would not allow me to fall back to sleep, so I reluctantly walked downstairs and cracked the garage door open for her when my calling for her didn’t seem to produce any results. My hope was that if the coyotes were chasing her, she would be able to squeeze under the barely open garage door and get away from the larger coyotes. Must have worked. She was waiting for hubs when he opened the kitchen door into the garage the next morning, and she ran inside, gratefully.

I would suggest you find a cat for your very own. But it could never equal the one you had, the one who found you, and you would probably be disappointed. I believe, however, one day a new cat will find you, like Alfie did, and make your place his/her forever home.